Elissa scoops Pavilion junior chef title

PAVILION Junior Chef 2019 winner, Elissa Knighton-Fitt, said her dream is to cook for Ed Sheeran one day.

“I’m sure he would love my food as much as I love his music,” said the 12-year-old from Pinetown.

Elissa won a prize package valued at more than R100 000, beating hundreds of hopefuls who auditioned for the digital reality cooking show held at the Pavilion Shopping Centre this year.

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Out of all the nine to 12-year-olds who auditioned, nine young chefs were selected by a panel of judges to go head-to-head in three cook-offs. The winners of these showdowns competed for the grand prize.

The young chefs who made the final this year was Elissa Knighton-Fitt, Jessica Henderson and Riya Marimuthu.

Jessica cooked a lamb fillet wrapped in Parma ham and puff pastry and served with broccoli and green beans.

Riya opted once again to cook a vegetarian dish and hold true to her religious fast for the Hindu month of Purtassi. She cooked a vegetable breyani with dhall and a cooling raita.

In the end it was young Elissa who walked away with the title with her Moroccan lamb shank served with couscous and grilled vegetables.

The judges in the finale comprised The Pavilion General Manager, Nisha Kemraj; East Coast Radio Breakfast anchor, Darren Maule; Uzalo and Lockdown star, Dawn Thandeka King and multi-award winning television and film star, Leeanda Reddy.

Kemraj said that the Pavilion Junior Chef Competition, the brainchild of radio and television personality, Terence Pillay, is an important event for the shopping centre in that it encouraged young children to explore their culinary talents and have an outlet for their creativity when it comes to cooking.

Elissa walks away with a seven-night holiday for four in Mauritius courtesy of One Stop Travel and Tours, an Elba gas-electric stove and extractor and ToysRUs vouchers.

The talented young chef said her passion for cooking was ignited at an early age when her father gave her small cooking tasks in the kitchen.

“When I was still very small my dad asked me to help him cut up some strawberries and that’s when the cooking bug bit,” said Elissa.

“Since then I take any opportunity to be in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking just as much as I enjoy watching people cook and we love to cook as a family.”

Elissa says she’s inspired by chefs like Nataniel and Gordon Ramsay, but it’s he very own dad who is her personal food hero. In fact, it was him that taught her to make the incredibly sophisticated dishes for both her victories in the competition.

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